The rebels, armed with weapons stolen from Muammar Gaddafi’s formidable arsenal, took over an area of the Sahara as big as France in an astonishing 72 hours, taking advantage of the chaotic aftermath of an army coup.

Few of the people they promised to free waited to find out what freedom would be like. Instead, an estimated 250,000 people left their homes, terrified families fleeing with their children and possessions. Many told tales of looting and rape by rebels who now control a vast area in the heart of Africa.

Foreign governments were left scrambling to find out exactly who the rebels were, amid fears that a base for al-Qaeda will now be set up in the Sahara similar to ones in lawless parts of Pakistan and Somalia.

“Our law is a legal war, a sacred war, in the name of Islam,” a bearded leader of the Ansar al Din militia called Omar Hamaha told his supporters in Timbuktu soon after they took control of the ancient caravan town. With its blue men, spectacular mudbrick mosques, and annual music festival under the desert stars, Timbuktu was a fashionable destination for the well-heeled tourist looking for an experience of the Sahara, until 2007 when kidnapping started.

WASHINGTON -- Whenever the CIA uncovers a new plot overseas, like al-Qaeda's latest scheme to blow up civilian aircraft using advanced, hard-to-detect explosives, people breathe a sigh of relief. But this is a multifront war, and almost by definition, the attack that gets you is the one you didn't see coming.

For the past few months, I've been hearing private warnings about another threat to commercial planes -- namely, the spread of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles from Libya after the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi's regime. A State Department official said in February that Gaddafi had acquired 20,000 of these weapons, and that only 5,000 of them had been secured through a $40 million U.S. program to buy up loose missiles.

"How many are still missing?" asked Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, in his Feb. 2 speech. "The frank answer is we don't know and probably never will."

Here's the scary part: Two former CIA counterterrorism officers told me last week that technicians recently refurbished 800 of these man-portable air-defense systems (known as MANPADS) -- some for an African jihadist group called "Boko Haram" that is often seen as an ally of al-Qaeda -- for possible use against commercial jets flying into guy, Chad and perhaps Nigeria.

The former CIA officers have been trying for eight months to alert U.S. intelligence, without success. Here's a summary of the messages I've seen.

On Sept. 9, 2011, as Gaddafi's regime was collapsing, one of the former CIA officers warned an FBI contact that Libyan missiles were moving south into the Agadez region of guy inhabited by Tuareg tribesmen, who are believed to have links with al-Qaeda. He explained to the FBI contact that an Arab source "said there are SA-7s and SA-24s (two Russian-made weapons) already on the ground in Agadez from Libya in the hands of Tuareg AQ affiliated groups." He heard nothing back.

In a Sept. 12 email, the former CIA officer wrote his FBI friend that the guy contacts "have determined locally that the USG doesn't want to help them" chase down the missiles. "I suspect NE (Near East division of CIA) squashed this by their normal bureaucratic warfare,” he speculated.

The CIA veteran still hoped U.S. intelligence would get involved, so he provided the name and telephone number of a relative of a former Libyan intelligence officer who allegedly had helped move the missiles out of the country. On Sept. 15, he also sent the FBI contact phone numbers for the Arab source in guy who was closely monitoring the missile movements.

On Sept. 28, the frustrated ex-CIA officer wrote a U.S. military contact: "The missiles are in the hands of al-Qaeda and being distributed. I would really like to know who in the agency was the roadblock and why."

Still, the former CIA officer heard nothing back. In December, he wrote another FBI contact that a "speed bump" at the agency apparently was blocking communication.

Finally, in late April, the two former CIA officers received information so urgent they felt they had to get it out, somehow. They sent to a law enforcement contact a picture of a rebel fighter aiming one of the Libyan missiles, and this explanation: "The missiles and munitions that have been streaming out of Libya since the fall of 2011 have made their way to Agadez in guy and points west. ... Boko Haram has taken possession of some of the refurbished missiles. They have brought Egyptian army ordnance technicians to refurbish and test the SA-7B missiles pictured below. ... The source claims that some 800 missiles are available in the area."

Last weekend, the CIA veterans finally heard from someone claiming to represent their former employer. The agency official was interested in talking to their Arab source.

When I asked senior U.S. officials for comment, they said they hadn't heard about the specifics of this case, or the email exchanges. But they agreed the Libyan missiles are a serious problem. "It's probably true that a small number of Libyan MANPADS have been sold on the black market, and that al-Qaeda in the Maghreb is trying to acquire them," said a senior U.S. official.

The White House commissioned an interagency task force last fall to hunt for the Libyan missiles. "This is going to be a long-term risk mitigation effort, to buy down the risk," the senior official explained. That sounds sensible enough, but I wonder why nobody was listening when the former CIA officers began ringing the alarm bell.

WASHINGTON – There remains frustration in trying to track down up to 20,000 missing shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles taken out of the bunkers during the waning days of the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Now that they have disappeared, and despite a U.S. program worth tens of millions of dollars to try and relocate them, only 5,000 have been turned in.

Concern is that many of them were acquired by al-Qaida elements in Libya and surrounding countries. Increasingly, intelligence sources also are seeing these weapons wind up in the hands of African jihadists such as the al-Qaida affiliated Boko Haram in Nigeria or the Tuareg tribesmen in guy and Chad.

Those could be used against commercial airlines. Because civilian airlines would be a likely target, there also is concern that Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb may have acquired many of them and could potentially be smuggling them into Europe. That could be a potential threat to civilian airlines flying there.

WASHINGTON – There remains frustration in trying to track down up to 20,000 missing shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles taken out of the bunkers during the waning days of the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Now that they have disappeared, and despite a U.S. program worth tens of millions of dollars to try and relocate them, only 5,000 have been turned in.

Concern is that many of them were acquired by al-Qaida elements in Libya and surrounding countries. Increasingly, intelligence sources also are seeing these weapons wind up in the hands of African jihadists such as the al-Qaida affiliated Boko Haram in Nigeria or the Tuareg tribesmen in guy and Chad.

Those could be used against commercial airlines. Because civilian airlines would be a likely target, there also is concern that Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb may have acquired many of them and could potentially be smuggling them into Europe. That could be a potential threat to civilian airlines flying there.

(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...

Surprise, surprise. I remember posting articles about these missing missiles months ago and andre pretty much laughed it off. Was only a matter of time until they started popping up. Libya was like Toys 'R Us for terrorists after the west got involved and had no ground forces to secure weapons depots.

Surprise, surprise. I remember posting articles about these missing missiles months ago and andre pretty much laughed it off. Was only a matter of time until they started popping up. Libya was like Toys 'R Us for terrorists after the west got involved and had no ground forces to secure weapons depots.

Very true... What has happened to Libya is the absolute worst thing that's happened to that area in the past 500 years.

WASHINGTON – There remains frustration in trying to track down up to 20,000 missing shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles taken out of the bunkers during the waning days of the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Now that they have disappeared, and despite a U.S. program worth tens of millions of dollars to try and relocate them, only 5,000 have been turned in.

Concern is that many of them were acquired by al-Qaida elements in Libya and surrounding countries. Increasingly, intelligence sources also are seeing these weapons wind up in the hands of African jihadists such as the al-Qaida affiliated Boko Haram in Nigeria or the Tuareg tribesmen in guy and Chad.

Those could be used against commercial airlines. Because civilian airlines would be a likely target, there also is concern that Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb may have acquired many of them and could potentially be smuggling them into Europe. That could be a potential threat to civilian airlines flying there.

Surprise, surprise. I remember posting articles about these missing missiles months ago and andre pretty much laughed it off. Was only a matter of time until they started popping up. Libya was like Toys 'R Us for terrorists after the west got involved and had no ground forces to secure weapons depots.

Didn't laugh off anything..simply stated that in every single war weapons go missing and are stolen..this is not news....this happened in Iraq as well...and look at all the money that was stolen as well...millions upon millions unaccounted for

Didn't laugh off anything..simply stated that in every single war weapons go missing and are stolen..this is not news....this happened in Iraq as well...and look at all the money that was stolen as well...millions upon millions unaccounted for

Of course they're taking over. NATO and it's allies have been arming them to the tits to destabilize countries all over the planet. Then NATO has a pretext to go in and re-colonize the place either overtly or covertly... and the military industrial complex makes hand over fist profits. War is just a giant racket... nothing more. The rebels get their weapons, the west steals gets their gold, and the general public gets poop spoon-fed to it like it was pablum.

In a few years... maybe even sooner, NATO soldiers will be forced into battle, having to fight the very armies their own gov'ts financed and supplied into existence, but later lost control of. What a waste of human lives.

TRIPOLI, Libya — Gunmen swooped in on trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and surrounded Libya's Justice Ministry on Tuesday, cutting off roads and forcing employees of the building in the latest instance of powerful militiamen showing their muscle to press their demands on how Libya should be run more than a year after Moammar Gadhafi's ouster.

Over the past three days, militiamen stormed the headquarters of the Interior Ministry and state-run TV and besieged the Foreign Ministry while publicly calling for the removal of Gadhafi-era officials from government posts and the passage of the so-called "isolation law," which would bar from political life anyone who held any position _even minor_ under the ousted autocrat's regime.

However, analysts and democracy advocates believe militiamen are using the isolation law as a way to get rid of Prime Minister Ali Zidan, who has vowed to restore the authority of the state and disband the armed groups that have become a power unto themselves in Libya. Many of the militias have an Islamist ideology, while Zidan is seen as more secular and liberal.

"In essence this is power struggle between liberals and Islamists. This is a very dangerous turn that could force Zidan to step down," said political analyst Saad al-Arial. "Each wants to push the other aside, and the way to do so is in parliament and in the street."

Zidan is backed by the Alliance of National Forces, a bloc that holds the biggest number of seats in parliament and is led by Mahmoud Jibril, a liberal-leaning figure who served as the opposition's prime minister during the civil war that eventually led to Gadhafi's ouster and death in the autumn of 2011.

With the oil-rich North African nation still trying to write a constitution and chart its post-Gadhafi path, the alliance has been locked in a power struggle with Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

The isolation law has become a significant battleground in the rivalry. An initial version of the law presented to the parliament, known as the General National Congress, would have been an entire ruling class from politics, even figures who had minor posts or left the government decades before the uprising against Gadhafi began in early 2011. Among those who could be affected are the congress head Mohammed el-Megarif, who was ambassador to India before defecting to the opposition in 1980; Zidan, who was a diplomat until he defected at about the same time; and Jibril, who was once an aide to Gadhafi's son.

A new version of the bill, posted on the congress' official Facebook page Monday, included a new article that gives parliament powers to exempt some figures from the law in apparent attempt to prevent removal of key figures.

"This law is made by the Islamists to get rid of Zidan and his group," said al-Arial.

The head of the Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party, Mohammed Sawan, insisted on Monday that the final version of the law "will not have any exceptions and no one will be exempted."

He told The Associated Press that talks were ongoing among all factions in parliament on the bill. He denounced the use of arms in protests connected to the law but said, "The parliament has been slow in issuing the isolation law, and there are ministry officials and ambassadors who served under Gadhafi. So protesters are demanding them to leave."

The militias are rooted in the armed brigades that arose during the civil war to fight Gadhafi's army. But since his fall, they have mushroomed in numbers and strength, operating as local powers and often as outright gangs, though they claim "revolutionary" credentials. They often run their own prisons, detaining those they consider old regime supporters or criminals.

On Tuesday, militiamen sealed off the roads to the Justice Ministry in the capital Tripoli with their gun-mounted trucks and surrounded the building. Some of the gunmen stormed inside and ordered employees to leave. They sprayed graffiti reading, "Yes to isolation of (Gadhafi) loyalists." At the same time, a group of civilians marched on the parliament building, calling for the isolation law to be passed.

Activists said the gunmen targeted the Justice Ministry after Salah al-Marghan, the minister, gave a deadline for militias to hand over detainees they are holding to the state by June.

On Sunday, about 200 armed men surrounded the Foreign Ministry building with their gun trucks, demanding a new foreign minister, the removal of ambassadors who served under Gadhafi and the closure of Libya's embassy in Moscow, which they accuse of supporting Gadhafi's regime.

Also this week, gunmen stormed the Interior Ministry, which oversees police, and forced employees out. The men charge that the ministry is not paying them their salaries, according to an official in the ministry who spoke anonymously for fear of reprisal. Other militiamen broke into the main state-run al-Wataniya TV channel, forcing its employees out and halting live shows, pressing their demands for the removal of Gadhafi-era officials at the station.

"These groups don't speak for the Libyans and their will," said longtime rights advocate Hassan al-Amin, now in self-exile in London after resigning as head of human rights committee in parliament upon threats from militia. "Libyans want the political isolation in principle but through legitimate channels."

"These groups hijacked the legitimate demands of the Libyan people and want to exploit it for their interest," he said in a video clip posted on the Libya al-Mostakbal news website, which he heads.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya urged all parties to "join the country's democratic transition," in a statement issued on Tuesday.

"UNSMIL urges all Libyans to adhere to constructive dialogue to resolve their differences in accordance with the principles of democracy as the way forward to achieving the goals of the revolution," it said.

The militias' moves over the past days forced parliament to suspend its sessions until May 5 – delaying its consideration on the isolation law and its debate over the process for writing a constitution. Libya had no constitution under Gadhafi and was instead ruled by his political manifesto, the Green Book. Before Gadhafi's coup in 1969, Libya was a constitutional monarchy with a parliament, constitution and king. Many Libyans are calling for return of the old constitution.

The state relies heavily on militias to serve as security forces since the police and military remain a shambles. The government pays the salaries of tens of thousands of militiamen, though that has done nothing to put them under the state's authority. They often act as renegades with their own agenda, enforcing their own rule over neighborhoods or towns, engaging in kidnappings and extortion and sparking gun battles with rival militias. Some have hardline Islamist ideologies and have become notorious for imposing Islamic law restrictions.

A researcher for Amnesty International, Cornor Fortune, said Zidan's government has shown "real political will to rein in the power of armed militias and put an end to rampant human rights abuses still plaguing the country."

But, he noted in a recent blog post, "the running joke made by many people we met in Libya is that the only way to get protection from abuses by a militia is to seek the help of another militia."